The Same Page
by Tishannia
Summary: YURI&ESTELLE, she had stayed by his side, so why wouldn't he do the same for her?


**The Same Page**

_( Yuri & Estelle )_

_&, ; my heart, my life, will never be the same _

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia or Tales of anything else. Bandai-Namco reserves all rights; I just like to play with their characters.

* * *

She wasn't a particularly hard person to please, Estelle knew; she was appreciative of almost everything anyone could do so long as it was peaceful and done with good intentions. So this funk she'd fallen into was hard for her to analyze. It had only been a few days since Yuri had saved her from Alexei and while she had thought she could just bounce back from the entire ordeal, she was beginning to understand that the abuse of power and control he'd used over her had affected her deeply.

Estelle knew she wasn't hiding her feelings very well, because Yuri, who'd once let her breathe and had given her a lot of space, would now no longer let her be on her own for more than an hour at most. He wasn't constricting of anything, but he would just stay somewhere close, never leaving her line of sight. To keep an eye on her, she wondered? Was he worried about her?

Or was he worried her power might go out of control again? Her thoughts kept going back to this power, this thing inside of her that had caused so much destruction ― maybe he didn't really want to stay anymore. Maybe he was tired of protecting someone like her, after what she'd done to the lower quarter and Zaphias, after killing Belius, after trying to kill _him_. Maybe he just felt obligated.

Did she confront him? She didn't want to bother him any more than she already had and so she had resolved to avoid him and everyone else as much as possible.

Now though, she was just so lonely. She wanted someone to talk to about... everything.

"I can't." She scolded herself, breaking her eyes away from the blue sky above her as she walked to the very edge of the barrier of Zaphias. She couldn't stay inside any longer. Once, she would've been content with staying within the city, the castle. Now, she just felt so stifled.

Why had this happened to her? Why had her life had to change so dramatically?

"What are you doing all the way out here?" A voice spoke up from behind her. Closing her eyes wearily, she sighed, instantaneously plagued by anxiety and shame. That voice held nothing comforting for her any longer. She was too scared of what he must think of her now.

"Yuri." She said lamely, acknowledging him. Falling into silence, she tensed when she heard him take more steps toward her.

"I'll rephrase that, I guess. What are you doing hiding from all of us out here?"

"I'm not hiding," she replied defensively. How did he always seem to know what she was feeling or doing?

"Right." He mimicked her earlier sigh, finally coming to stand right beside her. She could feel his gaze on her as he looked down at her, his lengthly hair blowing in the wind carelessly. "You must think I'm pretty stupid, huh?"

"What!?" She cried, shocked, because some things never changed. "Why―"

Finally she looked up at him, only to find him smiling and she let her words break off. Oh, he was just _joking_. Uncomfortable now, she looked away again.

"Estelle." He said firmly, taking her shoulder to turn her towards him. "_Estelle,_" he repeated when he got no response, "look at me."

She tried, but she couldn't. Consumed further by her fear, she was scandalized to feel tears threatening. She had never openly cried in front of anybody before! She tried to pull away from him, but he took her other shoulder and kept her forcibly on the spot.

And then he waited.

What did he want her to say this time? That she was _okay_? She was always saying that to him and for once it wasn't true. Was this where he told her he and the others didn't feel safe around her anymore? That she had finally become the burden they were always denying she was? The emotions bubbled up to the surface and spilled over when she finally broke down right there in front of him, but he didn't push her away or walk away like she'd thought he would.

He pulled her into what would probably be the most fierce and protective embrace of her life.

"Stop trying to hold everything in, alright?" He soothed, tightening his arms around her as she fell apart. Recognizing this as the most emotionally-open moment Yuri would ever give her for now, she tried not to let her shock rule her and she relaxed into him, holding onto the moment and the comfort. "Even if you can't talk to the others, after all I've done and tried to keep from you... you still found out and you never judged me or rejected me for it. I'm _here_ for you."

"Why aren't you walking away from me, after everything I've done...!" She sobbed. "I never meant to, Yuri, I tried to stop―" She rambled, trying to get her remorse and utter disgust at her actions, involuntary or not, across to him, but she was just blubbering so she shut her mouth and pressed her cheek against his chest.

He sighed. "I don't think I could walk away from you even if I tried, Estelle. Not anymore."

"Why?" She asked, attempting to calm herself down, taking deeper breaths to steady herself. Still, she didn't let go of him.

"Because you're my friend," he answered lightly. "You know, when you found out that I had killed Ragou and Cumore... I thought for sure you'd hate me or become scared of me. Killing isn't something I'd think you'd ever accept, but you stayed with me. Why should this be any different? _You_ didn't actually even kill anyone." He joked, trying to rid the air of the tension.

"I'm just a threat to the entire world." She shot back in a rare moment of irritability. "Sorry."

"Don't be." He laughed, glad to see she'd stopped crying. He wasn't used to crying females, but it hurt to see her so withdrawn and if crying was what it would take to bring her back, then he'd been ready to go for it. "Everyone else is really worried about you, you know."

"I'm sorry..."

"Stop saying that word." He reprimanded, frowning. "You're sorry way too much for nothing."

"I'll try to remember that." Finally, she pulled back enough to look up at him and she smiled brightly, feeling much better. "Thank you, Yuri. Just know that... I would never leave you either. I don't think _I _could." She echoed his sentiment, moving back in for one last hug.

"Glad we're on the same page."

* * *

**( AN. ) **_Now this is what I would like to see in the game, damn it! ToV certainly knows how to make me want more, that's for sure. I'm definitely a huge player for these two ― how can you not be is my question... and how could the game leave us with little more than vague hints? Not fair. :) _

_Not a huge oneshot, nor anything special, but I had an urge to write something concerning them. _

_I'm not sure about the whole Yuri characterization thing here... I know he's not open emotionally to anyone, nor physically actually, but I think that if the situation called for it, he definitely would, especially if it concerned Estelle or Karol. Hmm... I don't know? _

_-Bree_


End file.
